The contact owns a 2000 Mercedes-Benz S430. While driving approximately 60 mph, the contact heard a scraping noise and noticed that the vehicle was lower to the ground than usual. The contact pulled over and had the vehicle towed to an authorized dealer. The contact was informed that the airmatic suspension system had allowed the frame to rub the top of the tires. The vehicle was repaired. The failure occurred again five years later. The vehicle was towed to an authorized dealer where it was being repaired again. The failure mileage was approximately 90,000 and the current mileage was 130,038. The VIN was unavailable.

- Lilburn, GA, USA

The airmatic system on my Mercedes Benz S-500 has failed for a second time. The car-body dropped and is resting on the tires, making it impossible to operate the vehicle.

- Los Angeles, CA, USA

As I was driving my 2001 Mercedes Benz S500. My airmatic suspension fail and my car front went down as I was driving on the freeway. My tires start rubbing into my wheel well and started smoking. The problem left the front end damage. I had the problem fix by a Mercedes dealership. Six month later the problem arise again. I don't drive the car for fear that I might get into an accident.

- Seattle , WA, USA

I'm probably not the first complain about this subject, as a simple search on www.google.com would reveal that this problem is nation wide. I own a 2000 S-class Mercedes-Benz (W220 chasis), and I too got some aromatic (air suspention) problem. While I was driving on a side street, my vehicle displayed a warning sign saying "aromatic stop vehicle too low". I began to pull over toward the side of the street by slightly turning the wheel to the right, when I noticed that the car was shaking from the friction of the wheel rubbing against the bumper (or fender). I did not notice any visible damage to my vehicle other that the car was sitting so low that a good five inches from the top of the tire was inside the fender. It was then that I realized where the noise and vibration came from. The speed that I was traveling when this happened was 20mph. I can not imagine what would happen if the travel speed would be over 55mph (a very common speed for freeway driving in the city), what about over 70mph in rural areas. Something needs to be done about this before somebody gets hurt (hopefully not already). If a moving part comes to contact with a non moving on at high speeds, the consequence could be lethal. According to my reaserch, all the W220 chasis Mercedes-Benz have this "aromatic suspension" problem, all the mechanics also agree with that statement. Please investigate for a possibility for a recall before it's to late. Thank you.

- Warren, MI, USA

The contact owns a 2000 Mercedes Benz S500. The contact stated that the vehicle would ride very low on a constant basis. The air suspension indicator was illuminated on the instrument panel. He noticed that the indicator would illuminate and remain lit immediately after the vehicle was started. The vehicle would lift up and the contact noticed a leak in the air suspension system, which caused the vehicle to decrease in height. The dealer and manufacturer stated that there were no recalls for the issue and offered no assistance. The current mileage was approximately 60,000 and failure mileage was approximately 56,000.

- Los Angeles, CA, USA

This car has an air suspension system which has a severe problem. The car has no springs, instead each shock absorber has a pneumatic system that supports the weight of the vehicle. When both rear shock absorbers fail at the same time the whole rear of the car drops down and the car has to be stopped. When only one of the rear shock absorbers develops a small air leak, the car does not loose much height and there is loss of traction in the tire in the involved side because there is not sufficient vehicle weight being applied to it. This loss of traction in only one tire causes the tire to spin on light to moderate acceleration, but worse, it causes the tire to "lock up" on braking. The ABS system gets activated and in trying to prevent this "lock up", the ABS system decreases the braking force on the remaining 3 tires causing marked decrease in braking capacity. At highway speeds, braking distance is extensively prolonged, posing an extreme hazard. This is a severe design flaw which merits immediate correction by the manufacturer, or action by the government to prevent this type of suspension from being installed in any vehicle sold in the usa. This is a severe design flaw which merits immediate correction by the manufacturer, or action by the government to prevent this type of suspension from being installed in any vehicle sold in the usa.

- Milltown, NJ, USA

Failure of "airmatic" suspension allows front of car to drop down to the point that the tires rub on the fenders. Apparently there is no failsafe to prevent a dangerous highway situation.

- Lutherville, MD, USA

My major concern is the failure of my accelerator to respond. This could have easily been a fatal accident. I was beginning to enter the interstate and the accelarator simply failed to respond. Immediately got it to the shop and they replaced the pedal valve sender, pedal housing assembly, and input new codes for the pedal valve sensor. I was charged $361.03. Apparently many of the S class cars have computer problems and I believe this model should be recalled to check pedal valve sensors and to install a saftey back up of some type. Many people could have already been killed because of this potentially serious problem. The suspension problem centered around the airmatic system. 1st in the shop on Sept. 6,2002 mileage 46,521. Second malfunction March 21st. Mileage 53,846. This is when they charged me. Next occurrence April 3, 2003. Mileage 54,150. The dealership eventually refunded $585.89 of those charges with no explanation how they arrived at that number. Accelerator failed on January 6, 2003 mileage 51,934. I had to take my car to daytona beach, 30 miles away, 10 times in just over 10,000 miles. Daytona beach has been very helpful but my attempts to deal with their corporate office have been meet with a condescending and uncooperative attitude. It is clear that their once terrific image of quality and customer satisfaction is a thing of the past. As information I have shared this information with the usa president of Mercedes paul halata. I wrote him on April 3 and again on May 14 since I received no reply. He had a customer service rep. Who answers the phone write me a terrible letter that had the wrong car and wrong VIN. He was the same guy I called when the problems first began who did not return my calls. Nevertheless, the accelerator issue is a serious issue, everything else is just the new way of doing business in America.

- Palm Coast, FL, USA